There are 3 nuclear reactors at the Millstone power plant, located on the Long Island Sound in Waterford Connecticut. Millstone is only 11 miles from Orient Point; the northern edges of East Hampton Town are within a 15-mile radius of the facility.

Millstone Unit 3 is a reactor of 1,154 megawatts. Compared to Three Mile Island's 786 megawatt reactor-the one responsible for the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history-Millstone poses a greater threat to the public because the reactor is older and its radioactive inventory is larger. Three Mile Island operated for only 3 months before its core partially melted down.

Meltdown consequences: A Congressional Subcommittee concluded that a meltdown at Millstone Unit 3 would devastate communities in at least a 20-mile radius, causing at least 23,000 deaths from radiation exposure, 38,000 eventual cancer deaths and hundreds of billions in economic losses. Millstone has also failed to employ personnel who could operate a post accident sampling system which would provide vital information in the event of an accident.

Evacuation plans: There is an arbitrary 10 mile zone established by the N.R.C. for evacuation plans. The law that establishes that zone acknowledges that the 10 mile radius should be flexible if geography, access routes and jurisdictional boundaries are issues. All of these issues are problems for Long Island. However, the N.R.C. has denied the request of Congressman Forbes for a more comprehensive evacuation plan that would include Long Island.

Why worry about a Meltdown? Experts have testified to Congress that there is a 50-50 chance for a severe meltdown in at least one of 100 power plants in the nation. Ask yourself how you feel about these odds, then consider the dismal safety problems at Millstone discussed below:

About Millstone: Millstone Unit 3 began operating in April of 1986, and was shut down in March of 1996 because certain safety systems did not conform with the required licensing and design standards.

In 1997, the NRC fined Millstone's operator, Northeast Utilities (NU) 2.1 million dollars-- the largest fine ever imposed by the NRC--due to more than 60 engineering, licensing and regulatory violations that were found between October 1995 and December 1996.

For twelve years, Millstone management failed to update the final safety analysis reports, which serve as technical,

current blueprints of the reactor. The NRC mandates that these living documents be updated whenever changes are made to the reactor structures, or, if no changes are made, at least every two years.

Congress charges the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) with ensuring safe operations at nuclear power plants and with implementing regulations that protect the public health. After ten years of NRC "monitoring," however, Millstone Unit 3 was closed not by the NRC but by Northeast Utilities, its operator, due to safety problems.

With all the troubles at Millstone, the agency charged with protecting the public still allowed the reactor to operate. It is this same agency that recently decided that Millstone Unit 3 should be permitted to restart. The NRC approval to restart he reactor should not be reassuring.

Northeast Utilities also owns the Connecticut Yankee reactor in Haddam, CT. This reactor was shut down 12 years before its anticipated closing date because the Connecticut Department of Utilities concluded that it was operated imprudently and in a haphazard manner.

NU holds the nation's record for the number of employees who have turned whistle-blower. As a result, NU is the first utility to be forced to hire an outside team of consultants to review its employee relations.

The head of Northeast Utilities nuclear division testified, under oath, that they are doing nothing and will do absolutely nothing to address the issue of evacuation and emergency planning on Long Island, because the NRC does not require them to do so.

Environmental impacts: a lawsuit against Northeast Utilities alleges that Millstone was illegally discharging highly toxic materials into a tidal zone. These tidal discharges would directly impact Long Island Sound and eventually the Peconic estuary. Again, the N.R.C. did not discover the problem. Instead, it was disclosed by a past employee.